When Caleb returns, I'm dressed and ready. Walking out of his room, I stop in my tracks. "What's she doing here?" I glare at Caleb then turn it on Vale who stands beside him. "Don't you find it beneath you to be in the same room as a non-magic? Shouldn't you be with your father preparing for war?"

She holds her hands at surrender. "I'm not my father, Aramina."

"She's here to help us, Ro." Caleb comes before me and cradles my shoulders. "Give her a chance to explain."

I lead our little caravan to the kitchen table. Lips pursed, I sit back and pluck a tune on the heartstring. Caleb sits beside me and Vale across from us. She lifts thick lashes, her eyes bloodshot. She's been crying.

"I have some information about Roane..." she says weakly.

I glare at Caleb.

"Caleb didn't tell me about him," she says. "Well, not exactly. Yesterday, shortly after I gave Caleb my gift during Demonstration, I had a vision. I saw you, still alive, fighting at a bridge with a man covered in tattoos and you called out his name. I knew he was a troll, but... he wasn't like the ones you fought. There was something about him." She shakes her head. "I knew Caleb mourned you and so I told him everything, that somehow you were still alive. When I told him Roane's name, he finally admitted that I was right. I told him about the rest of the vision, and he thought I should see you."

I sit back, reserved. "What's the rest of it?"

She lets out a shuddering breath, and goosebumps sprout along her arms. "I saw him before a black throne of bones and charred flesh, falling to his knees, dying. There was darkness around him, waiting on the fringes. As he fell, it pooled out and washed over everything. There was devastation all across the realms. Not just ours." She swats away a tear that trails down her cheek. "I didn't know why Roane or the vision was so important until Caleb's uncle made his announcement. Everything made sense. The balance of magic is shifting, and dark times are coming if we don't save Roane and stop Mage Edwards from destroying the Trolls."

She sits forward, brown eyes keen with determination. "Caleb tells me Roane is sick. If all I have to do is Share so that we can get him back to his people, I will."

"I want to believe you," I say, "and your vision is on point with everything happening, but your father..."

"My father's dislike for the non-magic program is not to the extent of sacrificing them for the sake of a war. I don't want this war. My father doesn't want it either, but we can't refuse our support. We'll be labeled the enemy."

I cross my arms over my chest tightly. "Then how do you explain the Great Mistress going missing so soon after visiting your father?"

"She came to see us a few months back. He thought it was to talk about a pairing between Caleb and me, but she said he was promised to another...that he was promised to you. She knew you'd never have a chance at being together if there was such a divide between magics and non-magics. She wanted my father to publicly announce his support, so that perhaps his influence would quiet those who were against it. She believed we could never reconcile with the other realms if our own covens were divided. For you two to be together will be so important for our people."

Caleb squeezes my hand. "But what does this have to do with Roane?"

"Everything," she says. "The Great Mistress didn't only come to ask my father for his support. She needed his help. She wanted to know if she could stay with us for some time, in secret. She said she couldn't trust anyone and feared for her safety and for yours, Caleb. We let her stay with us, to finish her work, but then your uncle came. They argued and he threatened to have her imprisoned for treason. She was gone that morning."

Caleb's hands clench on the table. "He told me that it had been weeks since he'd last seen her. But he knew what she was trying to do..."

I swallow tightly, my heart hurting for the Great Mistress, for Caleb. "If there is a war, he never let you inherit."

The whites of his eyes glint. "I'm his family, and he's doing this to us."

I rub his back, hoping it will tame the anger that makes him grow rigid beneath my hands. "He wants to rule the realms.That must've been why she went to the Sprites and then went to the Trolls. She knew she had run out of time."

Vale's eyes narrow. "But she didn't have Troll support. You're saying she went into the Nether willingly? That's suicide."

"No, she surrendered to hope," I tell her. "She sacrificed herself for what she believed in-that we could be one unit of magic again. To do that, we need to get Roane back before the Coronation. There is no reasoning with the old King, but she gave Roane her power so that he could see firsthand what the world had to offer. He said the Prince doesn't want to take on the darkness. He can convince him not to."

"That's if we're not too late. If he takes on the darkness, we'll lose our only chance," Caleb adds.

"It isn't too late. The Coronation is next week, during what Roane called the Swelling."

Vale pales. "That's when they're planning to descend. I overheard my father speaking of it just now. That's why I went to Caleb. Darkness swells and for a second, it gathers all within the new king, consuming him. Everyone else is left weakened until the power courses out through him and out to his people, creating a new bond. That's when Mage Edwards plans to strike. If he kills the troll king at this precise moment, he gets all the power."

"They'll never get down there," I say, certain. "Trolls man the bridges, and if they're killed, more will come. Not low levelers, but Sentries, like Roane. They don't take prisoners."

"They won't need to fight," Caleb murmurs. He stands, pacing. "It makes perfect sense. You said my mother illuminated their hall. If they're sending down girls, who's to say they won't send down Magics in their place, disguised as non-magics? A Magics light is so bright, in their darkness, it'll blind them. Before they notice, my uncle will have overthrown the king."

Cold curls down my spine. An army of Magics in the Nether would be like the sun rising after eons of darkness.

I stand up, needing to move. "I need a minute." I walk into the living room and sit on Caleb's desk. He follows.

"I want to believe her, Caleb, but she hardly knows Roane. Why is she so concerned about his safety?"

He rubs his arm. "You sound more jealous than concerned."

"I'm... cautious, as you should be." I inch closer to him, keeping my eye on her as she plucks her fingers together. "What if she only wants information? If you're accused of treason for helping me, then you'll never inherit."

"That's a possibility, but if they're playing dirty, then we need to play the game, too. Roane is already their prisoner and she's willing to Share with him. We need her. He won't be able to get out of here if he isn't alive. He can help us fight if this is a setup. Besides, how things are going, I'll never be able to inherit anyway. We have no choice but to trust her."

I look over his shoulder at Vale, then back at Caleb, still unconvinced.

"If you don't trust her, then trust me," he says, straightening. "We're going to get Roane out of here."

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